ST. GEORGE — A man is in jail after police say they found a load of tires stolen from a St. George retailer in the rental truck he was driving on Interstate 15.
The investigation that led to Thursday’s arrest of Jeremy Jay Galbraith, a 37-year-old resident out of Kaysville, was set in motion when officers received a call from a tire shop on Riverside Drive reporting a burglary at the business.
Surveillance footage that was captured during the incident and later turned over to officers showed a box truck pulled up to the retailer’s storage yard shortly before 1 a.m. Once the gate securing the chain-link fence was cut, the truck backed into the yard and two suspects got out.
According to charging documents filed with 5th District Court, the footage showed that over the next 40 minutes, two suspects could be seen loading numerous tires and a set of rims into the back of the truck. By 1:35 a.m. the truck was loaded and driven away from the yard.
In all, more than $17,650 in merchandise was taken during the incident, according to the police report.
Later that same day, the St. George Communications Center received a call from a Utah Highway Patrol trooper in Nephi asking if there were any reports of tires being stolen from the local area.
The UHP trooper told a St. George Police detective that he had stopped a Budget rental truck on Interstate 15 for having no license plate. During the traffic stop, troopers allegedly found the rear of the box truck “full of tires.”
The tires also matched the ones reported stolen from the store in St. George, many of which still had the stickers with the name of the retailer and the store number affixed.
When questioned by troopers, the police report states that Galbraith initially said he got the tires in St. George and was taking them to a trucking business up north. The suspect then later reportedly told troopers he got the tires from a man out of Las Vegas when the two met in Littlefield, Arizona.
The detective reviewed photos taken during the traffic stop that showed what appeared to be duct tape around the Budget sign that was imprinted on the side of the vehicle, where a portion of the signage was removed and a section was hanging off. The truck also matched the one seen pulling into the tire store days earlier.
A review of the rental agreement revealed the box truck was rented to a “Jay Galbraith,” leading officers to surmise the suspect used his middle name to rent the vehicle.
When the trucking company that was allegedly supposed to receive the tires was contacted, an employee told authorities they were not aware of any tires being delivered from St. George.
Following his arrest, several charges against Galbraith were submitted to the Washington County Attorney’s Office for review, including second-degree felony theft, as well as criminal mischief for the damage done to the fencing at the tire store and one count of criminal trespass, each a misdemeanor.
Ed. Note: A new Utah law generally prohibits the release of arrest booking photos until after a conviction is obtained.
This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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